The Blue Rain
by ShaCaro
Summary: Alfred's a 16-year-old boy who loves action but is stuck in a little, boring town. One night, he dreams of a kingdom which needs his help. At the same time real life turns out to be able to be quite troublesome as well.
1. Chapter 1

**The Blue Rain**

_Chapter 1_

* * *

><p>"This is... not my room." Alfred reasoned. Without looking at his surroundings, he knew Mattie wasn't there<strong>-<strong> but he could just hear him saying 'No shit, Sherlock.' Softly, but loud enough to be heard in the silence that surrounded him at that moment.

Silence, along with darkness, what seemed to be fog, and dark shapes that scared him a bit were what his surroundings consisted of. But the shapes were trees. They must be trees, right? He looked at the sky, expecting to see black, but it was a dark orange colour. Twilight?

Last time he'd checked, it was night. He'd just watched a scary film, and was afraid the monsters would get him. Matthew, his brother, teasing him wasn't really helping either. A dream? Was this a dream perhaps? Alfred pinched himself, and pain quickly spread through his left arm. So this was reality. Where was he then, and how did he get here?

Alfred's attention was suddenly caught by a soft sound. A voice? It seemed to sing a melody which sounded vaguely familiar to Alfred. His feet started to move towards the sounds, curiosity being stronger than fear.

The shadows were indeed trees. Dark brown, stiff things, new ones appearing as he passed the first row of trees. A forest?

As he came closer the sound did not become much louder, but it did become clearer. It was indeed a voice, a young male one. It sang in a language unfamiliar to Alfred, but as soon as he saw the orange glow of what seemed to be fire, the boy changed to singing in English.

"...a flying visit, to my first and only love."

By now, Alfred had reached the last row of trees. He looked around one of the trees and found himself peeking at what indeed seemed to be a young boy. He was sitting, alone, in front of a fire. The fire gave his short, messy hair an orange glow. Alfred suspected it to be blonde. The song he sang was still soft. Soft and sad and slow and somehow made Alfred feel at ease. It was only then he noticed his heart was beating so loud, it surprised him the boy had not run off already.

"...around me, saying 'Johnny, I love you still'.  
>Ah, she's now a farmer's daughter, and the pride of Spancil Hill."<p>

He was silent for a few seconds, and while Alfred expected him to start singing again, which he didn't really mind, he said, "You can come over and warm yourself, you know? I know you're there anyway."

Alfred's heart skipped a beat. Not out of excitement, but out of surprise and fear. He stood there for a few seconds, wondering how the boy knew he was there. IF the boy knew he was there. The boy turned around, stared at his face with an emotionless expression, but with outstanding eyebrows, and said "I have no intention whatsoever of killing you, human."

Being called 'human' didn't quite encourage Alfred, as in all of his nightmares and scary films it meant the person who said it was not human. This boy did look human. The soft, reassuring melody of the song he had been singing a moment ago still lingered in the back of his head, so even though he didn't feel extremely comfortable with it, he slowly moved towards the boy and sat down beside him.

They sat there for a while. Minutes? Maybe hours... Alfred had no idea. He did know that when he let his gaze go from the fire to the boy, if it was a boy, he turned to face Alfred and simply said, "Yes?"

"I'm Alfred. Alfred Jones. And you are... Johnny?"

The boy looked at him, eyes big in surprise and wonder as he repeated the last word Alfred has said.

"Ya sang it just now, that your first and only love said 'Johnny, I love you so', so I figured..."

A small smile graced the boy's face.

"'Tis merely a song, Alfred. I would rather not tell you my name, for I am not sure of your reason to know it." When he spotted Alfred's expression, he said, "A name is something powerful and personal, yet widespread at the same time. Both good and evil can call upon your help if they know your name."

Alfred tried to process this. It seemed logical, yet illogical at the same time. In the meantime, the boy had lost his smile and was now poking the fire with a stick.

"I'm sure you will find out sooner or later, but I hope you never will." The boy was now looking straight into Alfred's eyes. "If you ever get the chance, do not return, Alfred, for this is no place for a human if he wants to live."

Alfred blinked, but when he opened his eyes, he was looking at the ceiling of his room. It was partly illuminated by the morning sun which crept through his curtains. He sat upright.

A dream?

No wait, hadn't he pinched himself?

Hadn't it hurt?

* * *

><p>At breakfast, Alfred was silent. He had uninterestedly stabbed his pancakes while his brother was happily pouring syrup on top of his own and his parents had shot him worried glances. He knew his silence caused them to worry, but he just couldn't bring himself to be cheerful at that moment.<p>

After breakfast, his brother Matthew had managed to force him to say what was bugging him. Matthew. Silent, unnoticeable, often forgotten, but at times he turned into another person. He had laughed him, poked him and told him it was merely a dream, that he should stop watching scary films.

Right now, Alfred was sitting on a thick branch of his favourite tree in his garden. He overlooked the town in which they lived. A dull, small town in which nothing ever happened. Alfred had already vowed to himself he'd leave the town as soon as he could, and in the meantime he would drown himself in the stories he loved so much.

Action-filled stories about heroes, aliens, villains, magic and beautiful damsels in distress, although Alfred had always loved their heroes more. So what if it was a dream? It was something that kept him distracted. Wasn't Mattie also the one who kept on complaining about his comic book collection? Well, comics seemed utterly boring compared to what he'd dreamt last night.

Oh, right! He wanted to see if he could find the song the boy had been singing. He looked at his watch and jumped out of the tree when he noticed that Superman was telling him it was 20 past 3.

He ran towards his house's back door and continued through the hallway.

"Alfred!" His mother called. "Could you come here for a second? I want you to meet our new neighbours!"

Alfred sighed. Perfect timing. His brother Mattie always wanted the only computer in the house at half past three to talk to his foreign friend so he really had no time to lose right now. If he had to wait he would miss the sunset, which he always watched.

He wasn't planning on telling that to anyone though. He could already imagine his brother's smirk as he started to wonder if Alfred had a girlfriend, or perhaps a boyfriend, to watch it with. He really only watched it because in so many stories, his favourite scenes were in front of sunsets.

Alfred hung his head through the door, raised his hand and said "hi" to two unfamiliar people sitting on the sofa in front of his mother. He had already pulled his head out of the living room when his mother called once again, "Alfred!"

"Whaaaaaat is it mum?" He said, stepping into the living room. He decided it would probably be over sooner if he just cooperated.

"Could you please take care of Arthur for a bit? His mother and I want to discuss some things and I'm sure he'll have more fun with you. Perhaps you two can even become friends!"

"Can't we do that later? I'm kinda bus-" He was cut off by the intense glare his mother was giving him. He sighed and looked at their visitors. An adult woman and a boy, not much older than himself. Messy, blonde hair and eyebrows that didn't fail to catch Alfred's attention even though they were mostly hidden behind his fridge. He was staring at his knees, cheeks slightly flustered as he mumbled about something really not being necessary.

It was a lost battle. Maybe he could still get to the computer in time...

"Okay. Are you coming along... eeh?" The boy looked up. Bright, green eyes stared at Alfred. Was he surprised?

"It's Arthur." He said as he slowly stood up and hesitantly walked towards Alfred. As soon as Arthur walked out of the room, which seemed like an eternity, Alfred grabbed the boy's wrist and started to drag him up the stairs to the second floor.

"Don't wander off too far!" He heard his mother shout.

He ignored the complaints of his visitor as Alfred practically ran through the hallway, still holding Arthur's wrist. He kicked open the door to the Study and found Matthew looking up, surprised.

"Hi Alfred," Matthew noticed the panting boy behind Alfred and continued, "...and?"

"MATTIE!" Alfred practically shouted, letting go of his visitor and attacking his brother. "Please lemme look something up before you start!"

"What? No way!" His brother protested, trying to push Alfred away. "You know it's my turn! You should've come earlier!"

"I wanted to!" Alfred grumbled. "But mum wanted me to..."

Matthew looked from Alfred to the boy standing next to the door, turned back to the monitor of his computer and said, "Well, better luck next time, Al."

Alfred groaned. He took a piece of paper out of the printer, grabbed a pen and quickly wrote down all that he could remember of the song in his dreams. Surely if he was to try and conquer the computer Mattie would've screamed. And then his mum would've come. And Alfred would be sure to be grounded if that happened. He folded the paper, pushed it into one of the pockets in his pants, glared one last time at Matthew and walked out of the room.

"Let's go." He said, motioning the boy who'd stayed silent all this time to follow him. Through the hall, down the stairs, through the back door and into the garden. He did not look behind himself to see if the boy who he should be taking care of was following him. What was his name again? Ah well, he didn't care. They'd managed to take away his precious computer time, but there was no way they would succeed in stopping him from watching the sunset.

He sat down not far from the tree he had been sitting in earlier, ready to watch the sunset which was about to begin. After a few moments, two shoes appeared next to him. They stood there for a second, not moving, until their owner hesitantly sat down.

"Alfred?" He said with a slight hint of a foreign accent. "My apologies. I didn't mean to ruin your plans."

British.

Alfred turned to face his visitor and smiled. "Nah, 's alright, dude." He said as he patted his pocket. "I wrote everything down I could forget so Mattie, that's my bro, won't stop me from looking stuff up."

"Ah, okay."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Blue Rain**

_Chapter 2_

* * *

><p>The same forest. The exact same place, only now it was daytime. The black and brown pile in front of him emitted a vague smell of burnt wood. The fire from last time. Wait, was this a dream again? He looked around him, searching for... What was that boy's name again? Oh right, he hadn't told him. Something about evil and good doing something.<p>

"Ah, I knew I'd seen somebody here yesterday evening. Excuse me, Sir?" An unfamiliar male voice asked from behind Alfred. He turned around and found a man slightly taller than himself. Greenish eyes, accompanied by gravity-defying hair made him look rather... awkward. Perhaps even scary, but a hero isn't scared of anything! He wore a scarf decorated by blue and white stripes, a bluish purple shirt and brown trousers. In his right hand he held what looked like a spear, although the upper part wasn't shaped like a spear's point but more like... like a Spade.

"Yeah?"

"Is your name already on the list?" He asked. He had a rather weird accent. Did that mean this guy was a foreigner, or was Alfred in another country?

Alfred didn't answer instantly. His brain was working at top speed. What should he do? Should he say yes? Sure, if it was a dream he could just say whatever and he could wake up and nothing would've changed.

"I meant for the...ah, shit." The man furrowed his eyebrows as if he was thinking very hard. It was only then Alfred spotted the scar on his forehead. "Sorry, I forgot its official name. The list of people whose names start with 'Al'." He shook his head and glared at what Alfred presumed was a tree behind him. "They have no idea how many people have those similar names."

"I guess so." Alfred grinned. Sure this man was foreign, his accent was kind of funny. "I don't think I'm on yer list yet." Alfred answered without thinking twice.

"Well, then," The green-eyed man said as he suddenly held a pen and a paper. "Might I know your full name?"

"Sure, it's Alfr-"

'Both good and evil can call upon your help if they know your name.' The words resounded in his head.

Alfred?

"...Alfred, Sir?"

Alfred?

Alfred!

ALFRED! Alfred, you git, wake up! You're crushing my legs!

Alfred opened his eyes to a dark blue sky and vivid, green eyes. Vivid, green eyes which were clearly annoyed. Alfred got up and rubbed his neck while looking dumbfounded at...A.. Ar...

"Blimey." The boy said as he rubbed his upper legs. "Falling asleep, that's no way to treat a visitor, idiot! And you're bloody heavy!"

Alfred pouted. Was this the silent boy from a while ago who apologised for doing practically nothing?

"Well, excuuuuuuse me that you're so interesting that I managed to remember your name and stay awake."

For a moment, something close to hurt was visible in those big, green eyes, or so Alfred thought. People often reminded him of the fact that he wasn't good at sensing the mood so he assumed he thought wrong. Come to think of it, how old was this guy any way? 14, 15? He sure looked younger than Alfred...

"Why you fu-" The boy swallowed. "You instantly fell asleep!"

"What's with you all of a sudden? You sure have a foul mouth."

The boy stood up, brushed off the grass that stuck to his trousers and glared down at Alfred. "I'll have you know I aspire to be a proper gentleman!"

Alfred grinned and said, "I'll make sure ya know I think it's better to be yourself."

"I'm leaving."

"'s Okay with me. Where are you from anywa-" Another glare was shot his way. "Nevermind. You were leaving right? Byee!" Alfred lazily waved his hand, not even making a single attempt to make the boy stay.

The boy's brows were furrowed as he turned around and walked towards Alfred's house. They were thick, and darker than his hair, making them stand out a lot. He was about to make a comment on them when the boy stopped walking, turned around, and said, "I am from England, you twit."

* * *

><p>"Ah, Sir!"<p>

Alfred turned around quickly, barely having time to register the familiar forest and bright blue sky that surrounded him. His eyes found the man from before sitting against one of the trees. Had he been waiting all this time? How long was 'this time' any way? It should've been night the first time Alfred got here, but it was twilight. Now it was day.

The man stood up, grabbed his spear which lay beside him, and started to walk towards Alfred. When the man reached him, he said, "Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I assume you are unfamiliar with this place?"

Alfred slowly shook his head in the negative, slightly worried about the effect it would have.

"How many times have you been here?"

"As far as I know this is my 3rd time. Why'd ya ask?"

The man bit his lip as he looked at the ground. "Well, you left in a very rude way. Since you were cooperating before I assumed you were merely new to this world." He looked at Alfred. "I think I was right. Do you know a lot about this world yet, Sir?"

Alfred shook his head. This guy was suggesting Alfred was in a different world. As exciting as that was, his fear was also getting stronger. What exactly was different here? Alfred hoped from the bottom of his heart that there were no monsters in this world, although part of him already suspected them to be there.

"I see. Well, to survive in this world it might be useful to know a few things about it. Since I vowed to protect this world and kingdom, I'll be more than glad to assist you. But... the problem is, it might take a while to explain all of it properly, and I actually am already late fo- Hang on, you were called Alfred, right?"

Alfred nodded. "And how about you? Calling you 'Dude' would probably offend you." Though that wouldn't stop Alfred from calling him that.

The man's face seemed to darken.

"Calling me Number 9 would be sufficient, Si-"

"Alfred 's okay."

"Number 9, Alfred."

"Don't ya have a proper name?" The man shook his head. Alfred's eyes widened. "Laaame, why's that?"

"If you hadn't interrupted me, Si- Alfred, I would've explained." He suddenly seemed impatient. "You see, the name thing actually requires everybody whose name starts with 'Al' to come to the Royal Castle of the Spades Kingdom." Alfred made a face. Spades Kingdom, really? "I'm supposed to go there too, so I could take you there and tell you about this world on the way. It's quite a journey."

Alfred looked around. So it seemed he could spend the night, or day, whatever it was, wandering around in this forest, or learning about this place and seeing a real castle. Curiosity got the best of him, something that tended to happen a bit too much. Sure, nothing could happen, right? This was a dream after all. Maybe the castle had real knights!

Alfred nodded. A small smile appeared on Number 9's face, instantly making him look nicer.

"Oke dan!" He said. "Shall we leave? We're already late."

"Sure, dude."

* * *

><p>"Where to start?" Number 9 began as the passed the first row of trees, leaving the remains of the fire behind. "This is a different world than yours, but I guess you already figured out that much." The man looked at Alfred and got a nod in response. "Some people from your world gain access to our world through their dreams. Basically, you're dreaming in your world, and awake in this world. We're not sure yet why certain people can do it, but we're busy trying to figure that out!" He ended proudly.<p>

"So... I guess you're from here?"

"Yes!" Number 9 stated proudly. "I was actually born..." His enthusiasm vanished. "...in the city surrounding the Royal Castle."

"Nice!"

No. 9 looked up, surprised. "I beg your pardon?"

"'s Nice, living near a castle. Must be pretty cool to see all the people who work there. All those suits... It's like a castle from my world, right?" Suddenly, Alfred felt tense.

This was the moment in which all of his hopes could be crushed. It MUST be a cool, old castle full of dudes in cool clothes and knights in armour and with it being the Royal Castle perhaps even a handsome king and a beautiful queen.

Much to Alfred's relief, the man nodded. "Yes, I guess so. I did not live near the castle for long though, I've spent most of my life inside the castle."

Alfred's eyes grew large. "No way, dude! That's so awesome!"

No. 9 smiled wryly. "You think so?"

"Yeah!" Alfred smiled widely. "How'd ya get in?"

"My apologies, I trailed off into a side story. This world and yours have some major differences. The most important of them is probably... we are aware of the little bit of magic that surrounds us here."

Alfred's smile vanished. First ignoring the question, then this? "Dude, are you serious? Magic?"

The man nodded seriously. "Yes. I promise I will make you see some of it. It's hard to believe at first for most people from your world, I know that... although the current Queen is an exception." When he noticed Alfred was about to say something he quickly added, "Please try not to interrupt me." Alfred pouted.

"Magic... yeah. In the Royal Castle, of Spades that is, there is this wall with a mirror on it. No, don't make that face, it doesn't tell people they're the most beautiful of the country. Each of the kingdoms in this world, there are 4 by the way, has such a mirror. It cannot break. When a king, queen, jack or knight dies, a name appears on the mirror- the name of the next king, or queen... you get the point."

In the meantime, the duo had left the forest and were now walking along a path surrounded by what seemed to be a never-ending stream of green fields full of various fruits and vegetables and other edible things. To their right flowed a small river and far away, Alfred spotted a greyish tower.

"So then the whole kingdom is mobilised to go and search for all the people with that name in order to find the new king, queen or... yeah. The person chosen by the mirror is best suited to the role assigned to him or her and can bring wealth and peace to the Kingdom, or so the legend goes. Ehm, what was it aga- oh. When a random person stands in front of the mirror, nothing happens, but when a person who's supposed to be a queen or something stands in front of it, a small, in our case, Spades appears on their left wrist, along with a number or letter to go with their position, like this."

He showed Alfred his left wrist. Right underneath the palm of No. 9's hand a black Spades was indeed visible, and to its right was a black 9. It looked like a tattoo, although it also didn't.

"Ah, so that's where you got yer name from?" Alfred asked.

No. 9 nodded. "Yeah. Babies get their name in this world after 3 days… and in those 3 days the former Knight Number 9 died in a battle... so then the mirror showed no name, and since I was practically born right in front of the castle it wasn't hard to find me."

"So... is that the case with everybody who gets such a title? Should I worry that by tomorrow people will only know me as being Knight Number I-Don't-Kn- Wait a sec, you're a knight? Awesome!"

"You sure have a fascination with medieval things." No. 9 said, smiling. He actually looked kind of weird whilst doing that. "No. I got my title before my name, so people have always called me that and nobody ever bothered to give me a normal name."

"I'll think of a name for ya!"

"Thank you."

"No problem, dude. So... is there more to know? I'd like to live for a lil' longer."

"...Uh, four kingdoms." He held up four fingers. "Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds. Diamonds and Spades are not on very good terms, mainly because our Queen and Diamonds' King can't stand each other. The Hearts Kingdom has a pretty good relationship with every kingdom, whilst most of the royals of the Clubs Kingdom manage to scare the others away. Ehm... things from your world appear in this world, and the other way around. Ironically, the group of most important people here appear as a regular game in your world."

"...I'm guessing the playing cards? Ace, 1 to 10, Jack, Queen and King?"

No. 9 nodded. Right when Alfred was about to ask who had died, he suddenly heard voices around him. He had been so focussed on No. 9 and his story that he had not paid attention to his surroundings at all.

They were about to enter a city. To their left was a high, greyish wall, decorated with blue and black Spades. The road they were walking on was made of sand and rocks. It looked quite poor, but it also gave the city or town, it was hard to see the difference, a friendly feel. The road continued to go straight for about 100 meters, then it turned to the left and disappeared behind the greyish wall. To Alfred's right there were houses, of wood and stone. They were small compared to the wall, but Alfred liked them. In front of the houses stood wooden tables, about 10 of them in a long row. On top of the tables were various small things. Clocks, spoons, pens, even food and books. The row seemed to be part of a market. Well, it sure was popular. Though the duo seemed to have just entered the town, they were already surrounded by a mass of people happily chatting and shouting prices.

No. 9 and Alfred followed the road. Near the corner sat a young boy on the ground. He had blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a guitar in his arms. When they passed him, No. 9 said, "You've improved since I last heard you play!" The boy's eyes grew large.

"T-thank you, Sir Knight Sir!" He shouted, obviously surprised by the sudden compliment. No. 9 waved at him as they turned around the corner. When Alfred looked forward again, he spotted a huge gate. Iron fences, decorated by, again, two huge Spades, were pushed against the grey walls, opening the way to the castle for various people. Young, old, tall and small. Some proudly stepped through the gate, not paying attention to any one, as if they were sure they belonged to, what seemed to be, the elite of the kingdom. Others walked in shyly, trying not to be noticed. Mothers and fathers kissed young and old children before they stepped into the castle, obviously intimidated by the huge castle that was surrounding them. A pair of guards dressed in blue and purple were guarding either side of the gate.

"Good day, Sir!" A male voice said to the left of Alfred. Alfred turned his head and saw one of the guards bow for No. 9. "We were worried you weren't going to arrive on time for this special day!"

"It's not special just yet, my friend." No. 9 stated. He gestured towards Alfred. "I spent a day searching for this lad. He was in the Blue Woods."

"All the way over there?" The guard looked surprised. He took off his hat. "Let's hope that trip wasn't for nothing, ay?"

Alfred nodded, not completely sure what he was agreeing with.

The guard turned to the people to his left and shouted, "Please make way for Knight Number 9!"

Instantly, a path opened. No. 9 softly tugged on Alfred's sleeve, gesturing him to follow. And so Alfred did. A hero was bound to be the centre of attention, but still Alfred couldn't help but feel uncomfortable whilst walking through the crowd with No. 9.

Various people greeted No. 9. Some wondered out loud who the boy No. 9 brought along was, others completely ignored him, but they were all gazing at them as if they were animals in a zoo. Very rare animals. No. 9 sat down on a bench which had a great view of a big, brown door which gave access to the actual castle, of the blue and purple roses in front of the gate, and the balcony above the gate. The path through the crowd had disappeared as people started moving again.

"So what happens now?" Alfred asked, slightly overwhelmed by the size and the beauty of the castle and its garden. He had trouble keeping his attention focussed on one piece of the garden for long. There was so much to see!

"We wait." No. 9 said. "This time, the mirror only gave us the letters 'Al', as if it wasn't sure about the name. And before you ask, yes, the mirror does notify the watcher if there are supposed to be more letters."

"So I see. I was already wondering why those pretty girls over there were called Alfred as well."

"Haha, yeah. The Queen should come out on that balcony over there any minute now, then he'll wish everybody good luck and after that the Knight Number 10 will probably let all of you guys make a alphabetically ordered row and the Jack will take you to the mirror. Or so it usually goes." No. 9 grinned. "Actually, I guess I should be helping with the row too, but as long as nobody has told the Queen, Jack or Number 10 that I'm here, they all have higher positions than me so they can order me around, I'm going to sit here and enjoy the show."

Right after No. 9 finished saying that, the crowd, which had been cheerfully chatting and shouting, fell silent. They all looked upwards, and so Alfred followed their gaze.

* * *

><strong>AN:** Well, there we go, writing a little A/N after all. This isn't my first fanfic, but it is the first one uploaded to this site so x_X I hope I did everything right...  
>...I don't really know what to say apart from that I like Cardverse C:... Oh, and I have an awesome beta-reader but I don't think she has an account on this site :  
>Also, the song in the first chapter is "Spancil Hill". I mainly listen to the version by the Dubliners. I've heard it works well with the fic so... :'D Give it a try!<br>I hope somebody's able to enjoy this little fic of mine :3 


	3. Chapter 3

**The Blue Rain**

_Chapter 3_

* * *

><p>Out of the now open doors behind the white parapet emerged a man dressed in the same suit as the guards at the iron gate. Right after him followed another man, or woman, it was hard to see from this distance. Alfred's eyesight and the sun weren't helping either. He pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose and squinted his eyes. He or she was wearing a long, dark purple cloth which could either be a dress or a long coat. Come to think of it Alfred wasn't sure about the apparent guard's gender either. All he was sure of was that both the guard and the Queen had short, blonde hair.<p>

Queen. It must be a girl.

Alfred suddenly felt something poking at his side.

"The one to the right is the Queen! He hates wearing those clothes." No. 9 whispered in Alfred's ear.

Alfred turned to No. 9, eyes wide and mouth barely able to keep shut.

"He? But I thou- The Queen?" Alfred felt like a complete idiot. A few people around him apparently agreed with this as they shot him brief glares.

"Sssh! Yes, he. It's just a title, Alfred. We don't attach a specific gender to it. Actually, the Queen of the Hearts Kingdom is also male. We might as well get a female king, looking at the amount of girls here."

Alfred turned to look at the balcony again. A guy, huh? So that's a coat, or do they also not attach genders to pieces of clothing? Apparently the gu- Queen had been talking and was about to finish. He raised his left hand, which was hidden inside a white glove, and said, "Good luck, everybody!"

Surprisingly, Alfred was able to hear him very well at once, despite sitting quite far away. His voice sounded familiar. The Queen and guard left the balcony and the doors closed. At the same time the gate underneath the balcony opened. Two guards identical to the ones guarding the iron gate appeared and took position on either side. There seemed to be a big hall behind the gates. Alfred's, and apparently everybody else's, attention instantly went to the two people who were standing in the doorway.

A man with almost the same gravity-defying hair as No. 9 stood next to a female with her hair in a ponytail. The man had brown hair, slightly tanned skin and wore glasses, a white jacket, and trousers of the same colour. A little elephant seemed to be standing behind his legs. The female had dark brown hair, a small purple hat with a single blue feather, and a long purple coat and brownish skirt.

"Okay, listen up everybody-aru!" The girl shouted in a surprisingly un-female voice. "Knight Number 10 here will make sure all of you form an alphabetically-ordered row and I will take each of you to the mirror. Food will be served in half an hour in the main hall here behind me-aru. Please do as we say and keep things organised!"

The man in white, if it was a man, bowed to the crowd and held up a long piece of paper. "Okay. If you are not selected, please leave the castle immediately, to prevent confusion. Trying a second time will make no difference, so please waste no time doing such things! The first person on the list is Alan Bernardson. Alan Berna- oh."

A young man slowly ascended the stairs to the gate, which Alfred had somehow failed to notice up until now. He was obviously scared. The Jack took his arm, said something which caused the man to nod and then guided him through the hall and out of sight. In the meantime, Knight Number 10 had started making a row. Apparently the next one to go was a ginger girl of about the same age as Alfred.

Suddenly, Alfred realised something. "Hey dude, I got a question."

No. 9 tore his gaze away from the gate and looked at Alfred in the same scary way of before. "I thought you weren't going to call me 'Dude'."

"Yeah well, I ain't got a nickname for ya yet." Alfred said, moving his right hand slightly as if to wave the argument away. "I was wondering if that 10 guy has my name on his list too."

"If you're going to keep referring to people as 'dude' and 'guy', you're not going to survive for long, Alfred. Especially if you use those names on the Queen, Jack or Knight Number 8 as they can be quite grumpy. And yes. Special paper." No. 9 waved the paper in front of his eyes. Where'd he keep that thing? "If I write a name down on this paper, it also appears on his paper. Oh, come to think of it, I never wrote down your last name." He stood up, grabbed Alfred's arm and started to drag him towards Knight Number 10. "We better tell 10 before he gets mad at me and forgets to include you."

A large group of people surrounded No. 10 as he was shouting out names of people who should join the row. He had to find one person in the crowd, make sure it was that person, and put them in the row. At the same time he also had to keep an eye on the rest of the row to make sure nobody would cut in line. Alfred was sure that if the guy didn't have that elephant, he would be no match for the crowd surrounding him. Even though he was a knight, he didn't look very strong at all.

No. 9 grumbled. It was obvious that even he, and he did look strong, wouldn't be able to reach Number 10.

"Well, I guess I could sneak you in." He said. "I know where the mirror is. Yao is constantly walking back and forth so there should be enough time to sneak into the room and put you in front of the mirror if we're quick. The mirror isn't usually guarded. Yao, that's the Jack, isn't keen on bodyguards...what do you say, Alfred? Sounds foolproof, right? Let's go!"

Without waiting for Alfred's answer, No. 9 started to walk towards the gate. Alfred hesitated, but quickly followed No. 9. When they reached the gate, Yao reappeared with the boy. His expression was a mix of disappointment and relief. He thanked the Jack, greeted No. 9, slowly descended the stairs and walked towards the iron gate which had been closed.

"So, Knight Number 9, where have you been? You're late-aru." The Jack said, looking at No. 9 but constantly glancing at Alfred. "Where are you going?"

"I know, Sir." No. 9 said as he bowed again. "My friend," He looked straight at the Jack. "My friend here merely has to use the toilet. I hope that's not against the rules, because otherwise the garden would be a pretty mess-"

"Okay, okay. You can go now! Hurry up and return when you're finished-aru!" The Jack said before he went to pick up the ginger girl.

"Let's go!" No. 9 said as he started walking through the square-shaped hall, Alfred following close behind. The hall was fairly big. The blue walls were all decorated with paintings of people who were unknown to Alfred, except the left wall, which was filled with windows. The floor looked like a huge black and white chessboard. Various doors practically beckoned Alfred to open them. He tried to ignore his curiosity for once and followed No. 9 through a blue door.

"Jack didn't go here, did sh- he?" Alfred asked as he stepped through the door.

"He, and nope. It would be troublesome to encounter him now. Besides, the toilets are here." He pointed at two purple doors to their right. Right after the toilets, the duo started to descend a flight of white stairs. Everything in this hallway was white. There were no decorations, only occasionally torches. Did that mean they were going underground?

Alfred hoped from the bottom of his heart that it was not going to be a dark dungeon, full of water and the soft screams of prisoners. S-sure heroes aren't scared of anything... but... but dungeons... full of bad people... and what if there were monsters? What if the legend of that huge crocodile came from this place?

He tried to ignore those thoughts. The hall seemed to be dry and well lit, and he couldn't hear anything except his and No. 9's footsteps. Instead, he asked a question that had been lingering in his mind for a while now. "Is blue the national colour or something?"

No. 9 nodded, but didn't turn his head to look at Alfred. He kept on descending the stairs. "Yes, along with purple. Each kingdom has colours like that."

They finally reached the end of the stairs. No. 9 stood still and when Alfred reached the last step too, he continued in a much softer voice, "Diamonds has orange and yellow, Hearts has red and pink, and Clover has greens and brown. We often use colours of other kingdoms to represent our bonds with each other. We're near the mirror now, and Yao is walking around here so could you please be as silent as possible until I give you a sign?"

Alfred nodded. He quietly followed No. 9 through the white maze of halls. Well, the walls could be yellow too, seeing as how the torches gave the walls a yellow glow. The floors were definitely brown and made of stone. No. 9 took a step around the corner. In the next corridor, when No. 9's shoes connected with the floor, a loud sound was created. He softly said something that sounded like a curse in a language Alfred didn't understand as he took of his shoes, revealing white socks.

Come to think of it, Alfred had no idea what kind of clothes he was wearing, IF he was wearing clothes. He looked down and much to his relief he saw a familiar red hoodie, baggy, blue jeans and a pair of sneakers underneath them.

No. 9 was gesturing to Alfred, trying to make clear he should take his shoes off too, but Alfred waved the gestures away. These sneakers wouldn't make much noise, and if they did he could always take them off later. He demonstratively put a step on the smooth floor of the next corridor and grinned widely at No. 9 when there was no sound to be heard.

The latter said nothing but stepped onto the smooth surface and kept on walking. Left, right, all the way through the hall, to the right, up two steps, through a door on the left, down three steps- the stairs seemed never-ending. By now, Alfred had noted that a lot of things in this world, or at least this kingdom, seemed never-ending.

Suddenly, No. 9 grabbed Alfred's arm, opened a door to their left and violently pulled Alfred into the room. He was indeed as strong as he looked. Before Alfred could ask what he was doing, No. 9 put a finger to his lips. Footsteps, along with a girl's voice were what Alfred heard. A door opened, and silence once again filled Alfred's ears.

"They're in the Mirror Room now." No. 9 whispered. "As soon as they're out of there, we'll sneak through that door there. We must be quick!" As he talked, he partly closed the door they just came through, and pointed at another door in the room they'd just entered. Said room seemed to be a storage room. Several different kinds of sofas were put in almost perfect rows against the walls of the room. The different colours of the sofas made the room look rather happy, although the walls were also white and the only light in the room came from a small window near the ceiling.

"Why're ya doing so much for me?" Alfred asked. No. 9 had looked stern and stiff when Alfred first met him, but he turned out to be quite nice. "Sneaking me into the castle and stuff, am I that special?"

No. 9 shook his head. "No. If I hadn't brought you along my story of searching for you for a day would've been very unbelievable. And now that I've searched for you and brought you all the way to this place, it would be a waste of all my effort to just leave you in the garden."

"...So it's all for your sake?" Alfred asked. So this guy wasn't as nice as he seemed.

No. 9 nodded. "Yes. Nothing I do is not for my, or the Kingdom's, sake." He turned away from the door to look at Alfred, who now had a slightly crestfallen expression. "But I have a big problem if we get caught right now, and you seem nice enough, so take this as a favour. The consequences outmatch the positive aspects any way. And I did say I would show you magic."

Alfred grinned once again. "Thanks dude."

"You're we- ssh!" No. 9 stopped halfway his reply and put his finger once again to his mouth. A door opened, or closed, and once again footsteps were heard, this time accompanied by soft sobs.

No. 9 closed the door.

"Well, they're gone. It's a pity for her that she wasn't chosen, but it's good news for us, I guess. Now, let's hurry and put you in front of the mirror so you can see the magic and then let's get out of here."

He walked towards the door, opened it as softly as possible and stuck his head inside the other room. He then opened the door fully and beckoned Alfred to follow him.

The next room was smaller than the storage room. This room was strangely warm compared to the other room and hallways Alfred had just passed. The walls and floor were dark grey and seemed quite gloomy. The torches' flickering lights weren't helping either. The wall to Alfred's left contained a huge mirror which stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The wall on the right contained a door which presumably lead to the hallway. If this room was so important, why did it look so... badly taken care of?

"Stand here." No. 9 said, beckoning Alfred to stand on a dark blue stone two meters in front of the mirror. "We would love to make this room more fancy, but it's protected by magic, as you can already feel from the heat in this room. Every time we try to change something about this room, the changes just vanish. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole castle could be torn down except for this room."

As Alfred walked towards the dark blue stone, No. 9 continued.

"See, in the middle of the mirror, it says 'Al' with a stripe after it." Alfred stepped on top of the dark blue stone. "The stripe means there ar-" No. 9 stopped talking and stared at the mirror. Alfred turned his head to look too.

There was a huge, light purple spade on the mirror with a huge K in the middle. Underneath the spade, there were indeed the letters 'Al' with a stripe next to them. It was then Alfred spotted the reason of No. 9's sudden silence. The stripe had slowly begun moving. It whirled and slowly turned into the letters 'fred'.

No. 9 and Alfred stood there for about five seconds, merely staring at the mirror. Then the spade and the letters disappeared and the only thing the mirror showed was No. 9's shocked expression, next to Alfred, whose mouth hung open. He quickly closed it, only to open it again.

"T-That was so cool!" Alfred said as he strolled towards to mirror to take a better look. "It's not a TV screen, is it?"

"N-no... it's not... The- the Mirror is as old as our Kingdom, which i-"

Suddenly, No. 9 grabbed Alfred's hand once again and practically ran towards the storage room. Right before he closed the door Alfred managed to hear the other door open.

Now that he was so close to the door, he could hear what was happening in the room he just exited. Footsteps and two male voices, suddenly silence, a quick exchange of words, footsteps, a door opening and closing, and silence again.

"That didn't take long." Alfred noted. Surely it took longer the previous time.

"Y-yeah." No. 9 said. He sounded as if he was mortified. "The Mirror is now empty. Yao will probably think the previous girl is the new King so he, and that other guy will chase her to check her wrist. That reminds me."

He walked towards Alfred, grabbed his left hand and pulled his red sleeve away, revealing his wrist which contained a similar spade as No. 9 had on his wrist. The only difference was that No. 9 had a 9 next to it, Alfred had a K.

"No way." Alfred and no. 9 said in unison.

"Y-you're the new King of Spades!" No. 9 said as he bowed deeply.

"King? What? You never sai- What? How? I-" Alfred was completely dumbfounded. This must be a lie. Out of all those people, he was the new King? He was completely new to this place. He had only learnt about the kingdoms and all today. This joke wasn't funny.

But he was sure the spade and K on his wrist hadn't been there before.

No. 9 seemed to panic slightly.

"I-I must bring you to Yao- I mean the Jack of Spades. Or the Queen of Spades but I'm not sure where he is. Should I go and inform Knight of Spades Number 10 that he can send all those people home? Sir, please do forgive me if I was ever rude to you or ever insulted you in any way." He bowed again." If you would be so kind as to follow me, Sir, I will inform the Jack of Spades that the new King has been found." He walked towards the door leading to the hallway and opened it, waiting for Alfred to go through it, instead of dragging him.

"Dude, if this is a joke-"

"Most certainly not, Si- Your Majesty"

"...Hey," Alfred said whilst walking to the door. He'd decided to just go and see what would happen next, it must be a joke after all. "Just 'cuz a fake tattoo appeared on my wrist doesn't mean you should treat my any differently."

"But You-"

"If I'm really the King, then that's an order, dude."

No. 9 swallowed, after which he furrowed his brows and said, "Stop calling me that."

Alfred grinned and stepped into the hallway.

"Sure, dude."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Ahhhhhh *flips table* This took too long. Simple reason: Life. Also ADD. I don't particularly like this chapter because it's quite obvious what was going to happen (at least, to me). I'm already almost finished with the next chapter so that one will require less waiting for sure :D

All my love to Beth for beta-reading (*o*)b. And constructive criticism. Enjoy if possible!


	4. Chapter 4

**The Blue Rain**

_Chapter 4_

* * *

><p>"Hey, I don't have to marry the Queen now, do I?" Alfred asked as they walked through the white hallways of the castle. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings any more. Instead, he had started to worry. His companion looked a bit too serious.<p>

"No, Your Ma- no." No. 9 said as he led Alfred through a blue door after which light blue stairs appeared. "Sometimes kings and queens marry, but only if they really do love each other. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. Mostly."

In the meantime, they had reached the top of the stairs.

"About the marrying thing, the Queen and Jack of Clubs are married. Or were married, I'm not sure. There are a lot of rumours. Uhm, the King and Jack of Hearts seem to like each other, though they're not married yet... I have a sister who lives in the Hearts Kingdom, she loves that kind of gossip."

"Why are we taking a different route this time? Alfred asked when No. 9 didn't continue his story and didn't walk any further either.

"Eh? Oh." The latter seemed to have been lost in thought for a moment. "This door leads to a sort of living room which directly leads to the Chess Hall. We could've taken this route on the way to the Mirror Room too, but usually there are people here. There shouldn't be any right now, seeing as how the garden is full of people to take care of... but I didn't want to take any chances."

No. 9 opened the door and revealed a rather cosy looking room full of paintings and sofas and other little ornaments. Blue was the dominant colour, which came as no surprise. A boy who had been looking out of the window turned his head and said, "Oh, Knight Number 9. You're back! Why aren't yo- Who is that?" He stared at Alfred.

He wore a dark purple top hat, a long purple coat, a purple suit decorated by a white bow and brown trousers. He held a glass with a brownish drink. He had short, blonde hair, dark and thick eyebrows and vivid, green eyes. Actually, he rather reminded Alfred of the English boy he'd met earlier.

No. 9 went slightly pale.

"Good day, Your Majesty." He said as he bowed. Alfred couldn't help but notice he bowed less deep for the Queen. "This i-" He was interrupted.

"You?" The Queen suddenly said. "Alfred Jones! What the bloody hell are you doing here?" He left the window and walked towards Alfred, putting his drink down on the table as he passed it, and furrowing his outstanding brows. "I do not want to deal with you in this world as well. Leave!"

It _was_ the English boy he'd met earlier.

Alfred waved his finger in front of the Queen's face and said, "No way. I don't have to listen to you."

"Your Majesty?" No. 9 said hesitantly, looking from Alfred to the Queen. "I have found our new King."

The Queen went pale as Alfred laughed and said, "The title 'Queen' really fits you."

He grabbed Alfred's hand and pulled on his sleeve, revealing the spade and the K as No. 9 had done before. As he was looking at Alfred's wrist, the tip of the spade on his own wrist was visible, along with what seemed to be the top of the letter 'O'. Alfred used his free right hand to remove the Queen's sleeve so he could take a better look at his tattoo. Surprisingly, the Queen didn't pull back. In fact, Alfred wondered if he'd even noticed his sleeve had been pushed away. Alfred's 'O' turned out to be a 'Q', which was rather logical on second thoughts. They were actually kind of cool, Alfred admitted to himself.

Suddenly, the Queen let go of Alfred's hand and stepped back. "Please excuse me, Y-your Highness." He mumbled before he turned around and walked towards the door.

"Hey!" Alfred shouted after him. "You can't leave just yet! I'm the King so he should listen to me, right?" He asked No. 9 who still stood beside him. The answer was an almost unnoticeable small nod. On the other side of the room the Queen had stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around to face Alfred.

"Don't let it get to your head, idiot." The Queen said. "A king doesn't just order people around. He, or she, also has other important things to do such as remembering people's names. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to leave."

Instead of turning around and walking to the door, he just vanished. Nothing spectacular, like what the villains and heroes in Alfred's favourite comics could do, although that guy didn't count as a hero... He just became transparent and disappeared.

"Wha- what did he do?" Alfred asked the room, still staring at the spot where the Queen had been standing a moment ago.

"He woke up." No. 9 said. "He woke up in your world. I told you the current Queen also came from your world, right? Pardon me for asking, but do you guys know each other?"

Alfred nodded, still staring at the room. "He moved to my town. I met him just yesterday. Hell of a boring guy."

What time would it be in his own world right now?

"Soooooo," Alfred began once again. "The Jack, right? We were going to the Jack? And how did he even know he was going to wake up? Can you control that stuff?"

"I can't believe you're the new King." No. 9 said as he started walking through the room. "You still have so many questions about this world. Yes, the Jack. His name is Yao Wang, but we mostly just call him Yao." They stepped through the door and into the hall with the chessboard-like floor. On the other side, the door was still open, with Yao in the middle, wildly gesturing and shouting at the crowd in front of him. In the meantime it seemed to have become twilight once again.

"Since I'm from here I'm not sure, but I've been told you just know when you 'wake up'. I guess that other reality starts seeping into your head."

There stood two people in front of Yao- the boy and girl from before. They both held out their wrists. The boy looked terrified, whilst the girl had a determined expression on her face. She surely didn't mind being given a male title. Oh, wait, the titles were genderless here.

Yao seemed to look intensely at their wrists before he rubbed the base of his neck and shook his head. The boy and girl slowly turned around and disappeared into the crowd. By now, Alfred and No. 9 had reached Yao. Alfred poked Yao, and when he turned around Alfred showed his wrist. Yao's eyes grew big as he grabbed Alfred's wrist to examine it closer.

"Oh my god." The Jack of Spades said as he looked at Alfred's wrist. He suddenly glared at No. 9, who, again, stood next to Alfred. "Toilets, huh?"

No. 9 shrugged. "Little tour 'round the castle."

Alfred? Oh my god, Alfred, you should really clean your room. Wake up, Honey.

"Hey dude," Alfred said as he turned his head to look at No. 9. "I think I get what you mean when you told me about that other reality."

Alfred, if you make an appointment with people, you should wake up on time. It's not nice to keep people waiting.

* * *

><p>Alfred grumbled into his blanket.<p>

"What did you say, dear?"

"Hmpff... five more minutes, Mom."

"To get ready, I hope." His mother said right before the sound of a closing door reached Alfred's ears. It was Saturday, right? The kind of day on which Alfred usually woke up... Alfred pushed himself off his mattress to look at the alarm clock next to his bed... two hours later than 9 AM. All his friends knew this, so what idiot went through the trouble of even _coming over_.

He lazily left his bed and walked over to the desk across the room. He grabbed his cellphone and opened it. No new messages. He yawned, stretched, and made his way over to the bathroom. Even if that person was the Queen of England, he, she, or even _it_ could wait.

About ten minutes later, when Alfred lazily strolled down the stairs, it turned out his aforementioned thought wasn't all that far from the truth. On the couch sat, much like yesterday, a boy. But now Alfred knew he was English, and apparently the queen of some dream world as well. Alfred leaned against the frame of the doorway and waited for the Queen to notice him, which took about two seconds. He stood up.

"Hello...Alfred." He said hesitantly. "I hope I'm not interrupting your plans."

_'Yes. Yes you are. Me and my bed have important matters to discuss.'_

"No, not really." Alfred said. He decided to once again just wait and see what would happen. He could always run off somewhere. He slowly shuffled towards the couch. The couch that guy wasn't sitting on.

"I hope you've done your homework." The Queen said as he sat down again. Homework?

"Oh, hello!" Upon turning his head Alfred noticed his brother had taken over his place in the doorway. Matthew smiled sweetly, and got a glare in return. At least, from Alfred. "I see you guys have become friends?"

"Sort of." Alfred said as he sat down.

"I'm sorry, eh." Matthew said as a guilty look spread across his face. "I forgot your name."

Before Alfred's 'friend' could answer, Alfred said: "It's Arthur. Ke...Ki.. Kirkland. Kirkland."

"I see, eh. Well, it was nice to meet you Arthur!" Matthew smiled. "I'm leaving, Al. Hockey practice."

"Mind sitting in the kitchen?" Alfred asked as soon as Mattie was out of sight. "I haven't eaten yet."

"Oh, okay. If it's not bothersome." Came the hesitant reply. Alfred beckoned Arthur to follow him. They crossed the hall and Alfred instantly strolled towards the refrigerator. He vaguely pointed backwards whilst raiding the refrigerator, not really caring whether he pointed in the right direction or not.

"You can sit down if ya want to." He said before turning around to look at Arthur, who still stood in the doorway. "Or just stand there. Want something to drink?"

A muffled melody and male voice suddenly filled the silence. Alfred turned his head just in time to see Arthur, who stood in the middle of the kitchen, reach for one of the pockets in his trousers and take out his cellphone, making his ringtone clearer.

"_-ones. I'm an English gentleman, and you're my secr-"_

"Arthur Kirkland." Arthur said to his phone as he pressed it to his ear. Meanwhile, Alfred continued raiding the refrigerator. "Oh, hello. Ye- I don't have to- No, you do-" Arthur's brows furrowed once again and his cheeks became slightly red. "No, just listen to me, you scu- I don't have to- half past 5, okay? Now fuck off."

He took his phone off his ear and pressed a button. He kept staring at his phone as he grumbled something and kept pushing buttons. Alfred didn't even want to know what he was saying. After Arthur had sighed loudly and put his phone back into his pocket, Alfred cautiously looked over the door of the refrigerator and said, "Girlfriend?"

Arthur looked up.

"Oh, no. No, not really my area."

Oh. Alfred had to refrain from smiling to hide his happiness upon finding common ground. He had never actually met somebody who also... Who was also gay. Perhaps if he had shouted from the highest hill that he was gay he would've, but he hadn't done that and wasn't planning on doing so either.

"Boyfriend then?"

Arthur, who in the meantime had sat down on a chair, shifted a bit. A blush spread across his cheeks.

"No, I don't... I don't have one." He looked straight into Alfred's eyes.

"Cool." Alfred tried to sound natural, and for a moment he thought he'd failed.

"Y-you don't find that to be a problem?" Arthur's cheeks became a slightly darker shade of red. Alfred shook his head softly. "Nope. Surprised?"

"Well, yes." He stared at his knees. "Up until now practically everybody has found it to be troubleso- You're not planning on actually eating that, right?"

"...Yes?" Alfred looked at the sandwich on the plate he held in his hands. "Something wrong with it?"

"It's a bloody mountain of food!"

* * *

><p>"So what are you here for any way?" Alfred said, looking over his food to Arthur, who sat on the other side of the table behind a cup of tea.<p>

"I thought it would be appropriate to inform you of the events that will soon occ-" Arthur caught Alfred's blank gaze. "Basics?"

"Basics."

"I want to tell you about your coronation and the current situation in our kingdom."

"Just two questions." Alfred said between swallowing and taking another bite of his sandwich. "How long is that going to take, and is it boring?"

Arthur frowned. "Well, the Kingdom of Spades has a long and eventful history but I suppose if I were to tell you the very basics it wouldn't take long. And it would not be boring, Alfred."

"Shouldn't you call me something fancy like 'Your Majesty'?"

"That would be appropriate in the other world. But you're not a king on this one so I'm not going to call you one. Besides, it would sound rather weird." He took a sip from his tea. "This actually tastes rather good." He said approvingly.

Actually?

"Your coronation will take place in two days, which would be Sunday night. I presume preparations have already started. You'll have to practice a lot."

"Practice for what?"

"The dance." Another sip. "You'll be required to dance with the person who occupies toe position slightly lower than yours. Don't worry, it's just a Viennese Waltz."

"...A what?" Alfred felt the blood drain from his face. He had never danced before.

"A Viennese Waltz. It doesn't last for long and you won't be dancing alone so don't worry."

"Is that one of those fancy dances? Do I have to dance with a girl? I really can't dance, can't I skip it?"

Arthur shook his head. "It's tradition. And yes, I suppose you could call it a fancy dance. In this world it is usually danced by a man and woman but in that world it's quite commonly danced by two females or males."

"So who will I be dancing with? Not Yao, I hope. He didn't seem nice."

"He can be quite old-fashioned." Arthur said. "He's not a bad dancer though. I had to dance with him. As for you, a king will have to dance with his, or her, queen so that would be..."

Arthur paused. It seemed like realisation had hit them both at the same time.

"W-well, look at it from the bright side." He tried to smile but failed. "I've never danced or even practised the female part."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **...Things like these apparently take me about 10 days to update... :L My pace is slow. The pace of the story is slow as well, but I'll try to speed it up a bit in the next chapter. Arthur's ringtone is a song called "007" by Toy-Box... :'D because I can. And if you get the chance look up a Viennese Waltz :3


	5. Chapter 5

**The Blue Rain**

_Chapter 5_

* * *

><p>"Anything else I should know?" Alfred asked. He felt kind of empty inside, even though he had just finished his breakfast.<p>

"Not really," Arthur said absently. His head was resting on the palm of his hand with his elbow on the table. He appeared to be staring at the ugly painting Alfred's mother insisted on having in the kitchen. As he talked, his hand slowly waved around, making gestures Alfred couldn't decipher.

"You need to pledge your loyalty to the Kingdom, which basically means listening to a speech and then saying 'I will', bit like marriage really, and after that you'll have to meet the royals of the other kingdoms," Arthur suddenly tore his gaze away from the painting, sat up straight once again and looked directly at Alfred. "You must try to befriend them!"

Alfred blinked, surprised by the sudden change of attitude.

"The Kingdom of Spades is in bad condition," Arthur said, staring right into Alfred's soul. Okay, not really, but it did feel like that. "We can't afford a war right now, ever since I've become... Queen, I've been trying to improve the state of the Kingdom and I'm begging you not to ruin it by starting a war, I'm already having enough trouble as it is."

Alfred pouted. For the first time the prospect of being a king didn't sound exciting. He didn't really want to, but he would probably have to ask it at one point.

"What trouble?"

Arthur hesitated, causing Alfred to pout. If he was the king he should know these things, even if he didn't want to.

"Would it be acceptable for me to owe you that answer?" he eventually said. "I shall organise a meeting with the other Royals of the Kingdom of Spades, you'll need to meet them any way, they can perhaps inform you much better than I of the problems in the Kingdom, and they might just be able to tell you exactly what not to do around the other royals."

Alfred nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

><p>The Kingdom of Spades had many forests. One would assume that with the slowly spreading poverty these trees would be felled to turn into houses, but nothing could be less true. The people were, and still are, scared of these forests, especially at night. Old legends tell of horrifying and sneaky creatures that live in the trees and under the ground, waiting for nightly travellers.<p>

Although no one can clearly state what exactly, everybody agrees that those who disturb the homes of these creatures by cutting down trees await a much worse fate than the travellers. Due to these superstitions, many people never dare to come close to these forests, especially not at night, making them perfect for those who wish not to be noticed.

A dark silhouette passed the trees the new-found King had passed just a few days ago. The darkness did not seem to bother him as he sped forward, towards an orange light- fire.

"You're late," a blonde head said.

"'m Sorry," the silhouette said as it sat down, "Some folks though I was a bogart."

"Well, are you not?"

"No!" In the light of the fire, the dark silhouette turned out to be a creature hidden underneath a dark piece of fabric.

The blonde head leaned backwards a bit, revealing a very much human-looking, if not human face. A sigh.

"How many days has it been?"

"A few, long enough, don't you think?" The blonde turned to face his companion. "How are Hearts and Clubs doing?"

"Boring as always," a voice from underneath the fabric mumbled, "Caused a storm in Hearts, but they basically just smiled and went to fix the damage with fitting music."

Two human hands appeared from underneath the cloth and were stuck towards the fire.

"Clubs is out of alcohol so it sent an expedition to retrieve their 'special' ingredient, 'm thinking 'bout not letting those men return. How're yours doing?"

"Ah, mine," the blonde said absently, "I've granted Spades a few days rest, but they seem to be doing better than ever so they should prepare for the worst. Haven't you heard the news about Diamonds?"

"...Nope."

"Their lovely river has flooded."

"You mean Vaïnamoïnen? But I have no- oh, so that's why there's so little snow in Clubs all of a sudden."

* * *

><p>A surprisingly young girl curtseyed in front of Alfred.<p>

"Felicia Vargas, Sir," she smiled, "But most people call me Feli, I'm number 7."

Alfred nodded. "Nice to meet you!"

The first three knights were apparently abroad. Number 4 was an emotionless boy, probably a bit younger than Arthur. In contrast, Numbers 5 and 8 were rather old. 5 introduced himself with a big smile as Roma and cheerfully shook Alfred's hand, whilst Number 8 merely nodded as he stated his name: Gerbert. Knight 6 was a young boy, no older than Feli.

"You've met 9 and 10," Arthur said. Both men with gravity-defying hair waved briefly. "Same goes for Wang, our Jack, and me."

Alfred nodded. "I don't have to actually learn about, like 40 people from other kingdoms, right?"

"No-aru," Wang answered, "The Kings, Queens and Jacks will do."

Alfred couldn't help but think that 9 people were still a lot of people to learn about in a day. The Kingdom of Clubs apparently had a very serious Jack named Roderich, a fierce queen called Elisaveta and a friendly king, although Arthur, who was speaking, quickly got interrupted by cries of protest from the other royals.

"You mean Ivan? The one with the violet eyes? He's creepy!"

"They say he's perpetually drunk."

"He smiles all the time but he's not nice at all! Have you not seen how his servants shiver in fear around him?"

"Yes, that might be true," Arthur furrowed his brows, then whispered beneath his breath, "but they've got splendid beer."

Hearts was next. Apparently their King was also from Alfred's world. A stern, but just man named Ludwig, aided by a friendly and innovative male queen called Kiku. Lastly there was Feliciano, whom only received praise. He turned out to be Feli's cousin.

"We share the same nickname, actually!"

Diamonds then. Their King seemed to be on good terms with Arthur.

"He's a bloody frog who can't keep his hands to himself, I would fear for their Queen if she did not have a loyal Jack."

"Is he from France?"

"No," Gerbert, who still looked a bit too serious, said, "He does seem like he could be from that place though."

"Their food is amazing." Several people nodded in agreement.

"'m sorry," Alfred said, looking at the boy who'd just spoken, "I didn't catch yer name earlier."

"Hong Kong."

"Hong Kong?" Surely that was not a name.

"Got like, a problem with that?" Hong Kong said rather emotionlessly. Alfred quickly shook his head.

"How's your waltz going?" Ned, as Alfred had nicknamed him, asked. 'Ned' as in the nickname 'Edward', seeing as how he rather reminded Alfred of that vampire, although on second thoughts his accent did sound rather Dutch.

"Yeah, good," Arthur said a bit too quickly.

"Is that why you were swearing so much earlier?"

Alfred's mouth curled into all sorts of weird shapes as he tried to suppress his laughter. Surprisingly enough, Alfred had turned out to be pretty good at waltzing. It had been Arthur who had constantly stepped on Alfred's feet.

* * *

><p>Sunday passed way too slowly and night came way too quickly. Alfred had done even less than usual, and his regular Sundays already consisted of very few activities. Frankly, the only thing he did worth mentioning was practising his dance.<p>

After what seemed to be an eternity on the couch, Alfred stood up and made his way to the cabinet in which his parents kept their music collection. Said collection mostly consisted of classical music so Alfred usually kept his distance, but today he really did not have anything better to do. Nobody would want to come over on a Sunday, let alone invite him to come over. He could easily imagine all his friends being as active as he was on the last day of their summer vacation.

It really went too quickly, did it not? It felt as if it was only yesterday he'd run out of school...

After a minute or so he found a CD containing the 'best' waltz songs. He strolled over to the CD-player on the other side of the room and played the CD. A vaguely familiar melody filled the empty living room.

Concentrating fairly hard, he swayed around, muttering under his breath, "One two three, one two three, four five six."

He kept going like that for a little while when suddenly his mother grabbed his hands and joined him.

'She's better at this than Arthur,' Alfred thought, before quickly trying to get rid of the thought. One should not be thinking about Arthur if not necessary, yet he could not help but smile when his mother stepped on his feet in a very familiar fashion.

* * *

><p>The whole coronation thing was terribly boring, to say the least. As soon as Alfred arrived he was put into very formal blue clothes he instantly disliked. Firstly, they were formal, secondly they were blue, and thirdly, there were rather heavy, useless spades attached to them.<p>

As he entered the ball room, or throne room, whatever it's called, his boredom was momentarily washed away by the sight he colourful crowd of people in the room, but quickly returned when he had to listen to the long, monotonous speech of an old man he vaguely recognised.

He was going to be king, so of course he would take care of the kingdom. Of course he would protect the people and aid them in times of need, that's what a king is supposed to do, right? Alfred kept himself awake thinking of the colourful people he was about to meet, but his expectations were mostly unfulfilled. In fact, out of the nine people he was forced to meet only two were nice, most of the others were stern and serious. And so Alfred was now enjoying the sight of the Royal Castle of Spades from a hotel on the other side of the road, accompanied by Peter, whom he had met on the way there, and the two members of the countries' royalty he liked.

"Shouldn't you be inside then, your Highness?" Peter asked, glancing at Alfred and his companions as he tuned his guitar, "I'm sure somebody would miss you."

"Probably," Alfred said as hung on the balustrade of the hotel's balcony.

"Arthur and Francis, I mean the Queen of Spades and the King of Diamonds are probably occupying everybody's attention by fighting," the 10th Knight of Clubs added. He wasn't supposed to be here, but he was replacing the sick Jack of Clubs. He was nice, and didn't mind Alfred being informal; in fact he was informal himself. He rather reminded Alfred of Ned, although this guy's gravity-defying hair was more blonde, and he smiled all the time. He grinned at Peter, Alfred's newly acquired friend, and explained, "They can't stand each other, 's great fun to see them together!"

Francis, King Francis of the Kingdom of Diamonds. Even though Arthur had made sure Alfred would befriend his fellow royals, he himself had a rather bad relationship with the King of Diamonds. Alfred wondered why but only got a glare in reply when he had asked.

"He kept stepping on my feet," Alfred said to the blonde Knight. They stared at each other for a second or two and then laughed.

"Ve, this is lovely! Is this your hotel, Peter?" a slightly singsong voice asked from inside. Peter turned to face Feliciano, the Jack of Hearts.

"No, but I'm sure the owners would love to hear the Jack of Hearts likes their hotel."

Feliciano smiled, genuinely, unlike anybody else Alfred had seen in the past few days.

He threw his arms in the air and sighed deeply. A good king probably endured it all with a smile. He wanted to be a good king, he really did, but it was all so boring, and he hadn't even properly started yet. A little English voice inside his head also told him he wouldn't get to do exciting things any time soon by sneaking out of his own coronation like this, but he happily ignored said voice.

"I'm sure something exciting will happen soon," the knight to Alfred's left said, "Over at Clubs stuff happens all the time, like, a lot of snow disappeared all of a sudden, and we're almost out of alcohol, and 'cuz of a snowstorm we have no contact with a team of scientists."

"I agree," Alfred looked to his right to find Peter had joined them in staring at the castle, "A nice disaster or something."

Alfred blinked, surprised. He was still fairly new to this world, but surely a disaster of any kind can't be regarded as 'exciting' or 'nice'. This Peter he'd just encountered was a rather weird person. And in this case, Alfred's definition of 'weird' did not even include Peter's outstanding and familiar eyebrows.

He should ask Arthur if they were related.

"Ah, yes indeed," Feliciano said, joining them on the balcony, "We had a storm recently and half of a village was destroyed, but I made sure it'd get fixed, ve!"

"I've heard a lot of Spades people go to the Hearts kingdom, is that true?" Alfred asked.

"Si," Feliciano said, still smiling, "They are really nice, but think this place is boring," his smile became smaller, "I can't see why, ve, it's beautiful."

"Then surely you've only seen the Royal Castle," Peter interrupted, "The rest is rather... badly taken care of."

Alfred stood up straight and held his right hand up in the air, much as if he was pledging his loyalty all over again.

"I swear I'll fix it, better watch out Feliciano," he grinned widely, "Gonna try and persuade my citizens to come back!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Idk. I always write Elisaveta. My apologies for the delay in updating, I've got no excuse, apart from being stuck and...distractions.

Alfred misheard Germania's name (Gerbert), just saying. And I don't see what so difficult about spelling Liechtenstein. And I really dislike naming characters ._. Hee but for the sake of clearness I guess I'll have to either come up with names or use fan names, eh. Number 10 of Clubs is Denmark, and I'm not gonna say who the other 2 characters are C:

On the length of this story, I have no idea. I have a semi-clear view of what's going to happen next so it shouldn't take long if I don't write very detailed.


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